Ill. man's calls make Calif. SWAT team respond to bogus emergencies

Rigged his phone to make it appear on the police dispatch's caller ID display as if he were calling from San Francisco

By Henry K. Lee The San Francisco Chronicle (California)

MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. -- An Illinois man has been charged in federal court with using a caller ID spoofing system to fool San Francisco police into responding to fake emergencies, court records show.

Max Stringer of Machesney Park, Ill., was charged with four counts of making a threatening interstate communication by engaging in what is known among pranksters as "swatting" - getting police SWAT teams to respond to bogus incidents.